Les Champes Elysees: Saturday, part trois!

Lets go to were the heart of the city beats: lets go to Les Champes Elysees! I am rested after my long walk in the morning and my long sleep. I will definitely dress warmer and will just take the little camera to be lighter - the big camera takes superb pictures but it is HEAVY!
Until now, Paris is a big disappointment. Dirty and smelly, hobos and gypsies everywhere. No milk, no water, NO FOOD! I expect to be impressed by the most expensive street in the world! At least, to raise one eyebrow!

Metro takes me to "Franklin D Roosevelt" in the middle of a RIVER OF CARS!
Looks like every car in a 20km radius is currently trying to pass through this point at this time! The 8 lane avenue is packed fender to fender on both directions! But not just the street, the sidewalks too! If you stop for a second, the people will possibly pass over you!
I first walk "up" the boulevard, toward L'Etoile (that hosts L'Arc de Triomphe). The overall look of the place reminds me of Kurfurstendamm in Berlin. I wonder who is copying whom? Actually, I know that Kurfurstendamm was build to imitate Les Champes Elysees (back in the 1800's), but now? I keep having deja vue's!

The trees are decorated with big light hoops that change color slowly, from white to blue to red. Modern and impressive maybe, but not very seasonal. The crowds are really annoying. On my left I see a long line of people waiting for something. Guess what? it is the local Abercrombie shop! It doesn't have a front on the street, the shop is through a big gate that is kept closed! I keep walking. Once again lines, but this time it is a Gaumont cinema multiplex, with everything synced in French. Another Gaumont is located exactly across. I also see a FNAC with some kind of happening outside, I will check it out later.

I keep walking "up" the boulevard. Cars are crossing regardless of traffic lights. So are the people. It is a happy anarchy. A long white limo is trying to turn into a side street but misses the turn and falls on to a bollard. The driver comes out to check the damage, closing the street AND the pedestrian flow. Suddenly, police in riot gear appears. Fully armed Gendarmes in blue uniforms with french caps are following. I decide to change side and start walking "down". In front of the FNAC, a bunch of Algerian rappers are doing their thing. They must be popular, I have not heard of them (howeer, I will have the displeasure of listening to this beat-with-wailing thing all the days here)

Back at the rond-point, here the decor is more festive. Big balls of light are decorating the six fountains. There is a carousel and the Christmas village is in full swing. Another deja vue, this time from the Gluhwein smell. Somehow, the Christmas village looks and feels out of place. The decoration is bad and all this traffic blocking everything messes things up. I have to escape from here!

I cut to the left, out of the crowds and walk past the US Embassy. A black suburban passes in a hurry! The streets are quiet here. I pass in front of Buddah Bar and a different crowd appears. At last I see some well dressed people. Girls in Couture and high heels, men in black everything. I keep turning here and there, getting completely lost. Doesn't matter, I am not going anywhere. I pass some really expensive shops, Place Beauvau, pass Hausmann, St Augustin... I am starting to get worried, the streets are empty and it's late and I really have to find a metro station to get back. I am looking for the yellow "M" signs and finally finally... I found one!
Back in La Republique, the same crazy traffic! Good thing that my walk is uneventful to the hotel.

Walking around Paris: Saturday, part deux

Pont Alexandre III. Big bridge with golden statues, across from Les Invalides, crossing over to Le Grand Palais. Reminds me of the bridge of Angels in Rome and of the other similar bridge in Berlin. I locate a big "wheel" in the distance and decide to walk to it.
A girl approaches "Is this your ring?" she shows me a fancy golden ring, looking like a discarded wedding ring. This is a known to me distraction method: she will ask for money as a finders fee,and the sucker tourist will give her 50 Euros for it, thinking this is a golden ring. I must look like the regular american with my big camera. I wave her off and keep walking.

Apparently, I am close to Les champs Elysees. There is a nice statue of Clemanceau here, decorated with colorful combinations of flowers. I take some more pictures and turn right. Another Christmas village is been erected here, little white houses on both sides of the boulevard. I am certainly coming back after dark to see the lights and the decorations. Across, I can see the presidential palace and next to it the embassies of the "great powers", a reminder that Paris is "still" occupied by the British and the Americans, 60 years after the war. Same as in Berlin.
A few steps further and voila, La place de la concorde! In the middle of the enormous square, the obelisk that Napoleon stole from Luxor. Straight ahead, Les Toulieres. A big garden that leads to Le Louvre. The garden is lined with big trees and has art in every corner. It also has cafes, but again, not yet open. A little lake with chairs in front of me, surrounded with sculptures, not very interesting ones. Once again, I am the target of gypsies, this time a young boy with some kind of petition. I tell him I sign your petition, but NO MONEY. He goes away disappointed. I will spot those gypsies with the "petitions" many more times around Paris. I also find them mentioned in the tourist information pages of the Paris police, right after the "pickpockets in the metro" section.

A small triumph arc separates me from Le Louvre. In the middle the famous glass pyramid. Long lines of people waiting to enter. Today is not the day for the Louvre, however I am ready for a pit-stop. I notice two american girls holding Starbucks cups and I turn to the left to exit the Louvre and find a Starbucks. I exit to Le Palais Royal square, once again confronted by the smell of hobos. The next opening is La Comedie Francaise and the small Andre Malraux square. At the end of the big avenue I can see the golden dome of L'Opera. Safe haven in a Starbucks.

I am very very hungry and very very cold. Also my feet and back hurt. No wonder, I am walking non stop for four hours! With no breakfast! I occupy a seat in front of a window and after I have another English-french-pantomime conversation, I can finally sit, have a coffee and two sandwiches and use my iPad to go online. I access google maps to see were I am and how long I am walking. I also typed up a part of the notes that became this post.

Took the metro back to the hotel. Got into the room, room is UNFIXED! Got out again to buy some water from Monoprix (a small convenience store around the corner). No milk! No water also? I ask the girl at the counter and she directs me to a small "annex" room were they keep the empty crates. Hidden in a dark corner I find bottled water. How is this possible? a whole refrigerator stocked with all kinds of cheese but no milk and no water? Whatever...
Back in the hotel, I take a shower and go to sleep. At some point the cleaning service was banging at the (locked) door. Of course I have a "No Derranger Pas" sign on the door, but they are ignoring it!

Getting to know Paris: Saturday

Woke up at 0700. Got out of the Hotel as soon as possible. Hotel has breakfast, but they charge 12E for it. I guess I can get a better deal on the street.
Exiting to Boulevard Voltaire, I remember that there is a boulangerie and across a bistro cafe were I could get breakfast. The boulangerie is still closed. The bistro cafe is ALSO closed, however it has a sign on the door advertising breakfast for 7E. I guess it is really early for Saturday morning, all streets are empty.
Walked down to the Oberkampf metro station and got a "Paris Visite" ticket, five days metro for 30E. Of course, the lady in the ticket counter knew only some french, so I had to pantomime myself through. After fiddling about on the ticket machine I got the hang of it and realized that I can use a credit card - because I don't carry on me 30E worth of coins!
I planned my trip carefully: I would take the green number 9 line all the way to Trocadero, to familiarize myself with the metro and also go and see the most famous of the sites. The train to line 9 is even in worse shape than the train in orange number 5 line I used yesterday. For some idiot reason only the French know, every line that passes from a station uses its OWN dock station and you have to walk a long way from one to the other.
I have with me both cameras and the iPad but I don't have earphones, because I forgot the iPod! if I get desperate, I can buy some cheap earphones and plug them to the iPad.
Of course, on the platform more hobos. I noticed that the metro authority has placed the chairs in a pattern that doesn't allow someone to sleep on them or in between them. Also, the chairs are tilted, you have to keep your feet pushing back to not fall off, so if you are a hobo trying to sleep you will fall off once you reach Alpha pattern stage.

Arrived at Trocadero. One of the most "touristy" metro stops, looks like someone 20 years ago made an effort to "modernize" it but now it is broken and filthy. A small brown sign helps tourists locate the correct exit towards the Eiffel Tower. Instantly surrounded by annoying African peddlers trying to sell ugly painted keychains.
The light is wonderful. The sun is just over the horizon and there is fog and low clouds that give a mysterious look to the surroundings. The wet marbles of the square give another interesting dimension to the pictures.
A crazy lady with a bullhorn was shouting "no more socialism" to no one in particular. At this time I was one of just a handful of tourists and I don't think the Algerian and Moroccan souvenir sellers were much impressed.
I walked down the stairs. A Christmas village was being set up with a small carousel. Eiffel Tower is impressive! Moreover because it is over a century old! Getting closer to the river I was starting to freeze, the combination of 90% humidity and freezing wind was really uncomfortable. Looking around you can tell this is an area habituated by the very rich. The grass is pristine and the houses look big and expensive. Getting closer to the tower, I noticed the long lines of tourists waiting to visit. The elevator opens at 10:00 and can take a limited amount of passengers, so I calculate that it will take me a couple of hours of waiting. I decide that i can spend my first day in Paris more productive than waiting in a line. Also, the clouds are really low at this time, so there would be nothing much to see from the tower.
A group of Americans is gathering on the opposite side of the tower. They are ready to use the stairs to go up. Good idea! I keep walking into the Champs Du Mars. Runners start to appear in the park. In one corner a football team is running around. In another spot, an elderly gent is playing golf. The usual crowd of Chinese occupies every possible spot.
A bride in a bridal dress is being photographed with the tower. The dress is three sizes too big and it is held in place with pegs and needles. I can see the girl shivering in the freezing wind. She is barefoot in the wet grass. She possibly had this dream of getting married in Paris and now wants to make the most of the experience.

All this make me really sad...

In front of me is the Ecole Militaire. I would like to go in and take pictures of the famous grounds, but I will have to go all around to the back side. I decide to turn left and make my way to the river. Walking along the river is one of those pictures of Paris I have in my mind. I find myself in a boulevard with bistros and cafes, everything is still not open. I look into a window of a pastry shop that is about to open and locate some interesting sweets but I am put off by the prices! almost 5E for a small piece of tarte?

After some aimless walking, I reached the river. Another park here, very similar to Rome. People riding bicycles and running. Broken beer and wine bottles here and there. Trash mixed with the leaves. Sculptures here and there, most of them covered with graffiti. Nobody smiles. A municipality worker is collecting trash but not doing a very thorough job. A small statue commemorates someone called Habib Bourguiba. On my left I can see the glass roof of the Grand Palais.

Why do I hate Paris?

I had the misfortune to talk myself into visiting Paris for a week. Everybody was "oh, I am so jealous, Paris is marvelous". I even missed a TEDx event that I really wanted to attend...

Whatever...

I arrived in Paris Charles DeGaull (CDG) airport after an uneventful flight. As airports go, CDG was dark and ugly. Long passenger movers. I was impressed by a Concorde that was parked on a display. My first impression leaving the plane was the smell. France smelled sweet! The airport has an internal rail shuttle that connects the terminals with the train stations and the parking lots.
I took the RER (train) to Paris Gare Du Nord and was fortunate enough to get on the express version of the train - it didn't stop anywhere. I got my ticket from a ticket machine that excepted ONLY coins, however this was not the machine's fault... There were machines that sold tickets using credit cards but someone just of the plane has no way of knowing that: No instructions anywhere, except of course ON the machine itself. Train was also dark and ugly and very very filthy. Everything broken and covered in graffiti.

Sidenote: Only the French could be so annoying to have SIX "central" train stations for one city: Gare du Nord, Gare St Lazare, Gare Del'Est, Bercy, Austerliz, Montparnasse... hopefully by 2016 they will incorporate all of them to the "new" central station of Les Halles.

I made my changeover to the Metro easily, however, I was annoyed and stunned of the disastrous appearance of the metro stations. Filth everywhere. Hobos sleeping in every corner. Signage was in french of course, but I found my line and stop quickly. The biggest problem was the unfriendliness of the station for someone carrying a 20Kgr suitcase.

Getting out of the Metro into the cold and wet Paris night was disorienting and confusing. A very nice local helped me locate my hotel using his iPhone. I arrived to the Hotel and crashed in my room. What is the first thing someone after a long trip on planes and trains wishes to do? of course: take a hot shower! But the room didn't have any soap of any kind. I was prepared, knowing the "love" the french have for washing. I had my OWN soap with me!
Refreshed and partially clean, I spent some time acclimatizing to my new living space for the next week. The room was extremely small and smelled of mildew. So small, it didn't have a spot to put my suitcase! I opened the window to clear the smell and started unpacking my stuff. Room was nicely decorated with IKEA items and had a big photo tapestry of "Les Invalides" at the head of the bed.

Then, I got dressed and stepped out into the unfamiliar surroundings, to look and feel around and get something to eat. My Hotel was located close to Place De La Republique. Not the best part of town I imagine, but lively, full with people and heavy traffic. Long lines outside cinemas. Hobos everywhere, but nobody cares. Plenty of big scooters locked with heavy locks (says something about traffic problem and petty crime). Many eateries around, most of them oriental food, sushi, kebabs - not looking particularly clean. One nice Ethiopian place, some bistros, some cafes. Couple of boulangeries. Gangs of teen girls and boys roaming about and making noise (probably the local version of gypsies)

The Parisians walk inside a perpetual cloud of perfume.